attributes, as we see from the Greek and Roman wri- | attributes of universal power. The allegorical tales ters. Sometimes she is represented like Diana of of the loves and misfortunes of Isis and Osiris are an Ephesus, the universal mother, with a number of exact counterpart of those of Venus and Adonis (Suid., breasts. The mysterious rites of Isis were probably s. v. diayvipov), which signify the alternate exertion in their origin symbolical: on one of her statues was of the generative and destructive attributes. (Enqui this inscription, "I am all that has been or that shall ry into the Symb. Lang., &c., 118, 119.) The Disa be; no mortal has hitherto taken off my veil."-But or Isa of the north was represented by a conic figure the Isiac rites, transplanted to Italy, became a cloak enveloped in a net, similar to the cortina of Apollo on for licentiousness, and they were repeatedly forbidden the medals of Cos, Chersonesus in Crete, Neapolis in at Rome. Tiberius caused the images of Isis to be Italy, and the Syrian kings; but, instead of having the thrown into the Tiber; but the worship subsequently serpent coiled round it as in the first, or some symbol revived, and Juvenal speaks of it in an indignant strain. or figure of Apollo placed upon it as in the rest, it is -The Isiac Table in the Turin Museum, which is terminated by a human head. (Ol. Rudbeck, Atlant., supposed to represent the mysteries of Isis, has been vol. 2, c. 5, p. 219.) This goddess is unquestionably judged by Champollion to be the work of an uninitiated the Isis whom the ancient Suevi, according to Taciartist, little acquainted with the true worship of the tus, worshipped (Germ., c. 9); for the initial letter of goddess, and probably of the age of Hadrian. (Con- the first name appears to be an article or prefix joined sult Plutarch's treatise on Isis and Osiris, ed. Wyt- to it; and the Egyptian Isis was occasionally repretenb., vol. 2, p. 441.-Herod., 2, 41, seqq.-Pausan., sented enveloped in a net, exactly as the Scandinavian 2, 13, 7.-Id., 10, 32, 13 )-The legend of Isis and goddess was at Upsal. (Isiac Table, and Ol. RudOsiris may be found in full detail in Creuzer (Sym-beck, Atlant., p. 209.) This goddess is delineated on bolik, vol. 1, p. 258, seqq.). On comparing the differ- the sacred drums of the Laplanders, accompanied by ent explanations given by Plutarch and other ancient a child, similar to the Horus of the Egyptians, who so writers, it will appear that Osiris is the type of the ac- often appears in the lap of Isis on the religious montive, generating, and beneficent force of nature and the uments of that people. The ancient Muscovites also elements; Isis, on the contrary, is the passive force, worshipped a sacred group, composed of an old woman the power of conceiving and bringing forth into life in with one male child in her lap, and another standing the sublunary world. Osiris was particularly adored by her, which probably represented Isis and her offin the sun, whose rays vivify and impart new warmth spring. They had likewise another idol, called the to the earth, and who, on his annual return in the golden heifer, which seems to have been the animalspring, appears to create anew all organic bodies. He symbol of the same personage. (Ol. Rudbeck, Atwas adored also in the Nile, the cause of Egyptian fer-lant., p. 512, seqq.-Ib., p. 280.—Knight, Enquiry tility. Isis was the earth, or sublunary nature in gen-into the Symb. Lang., § 195.) For some speculaeral; or, in a more confined sense, the soil of Egypt tions on the name of Isis, Jablonski may be consulted. inundated by the Nile, the principle of all fecundity, (Panth. Egypt., 2, 29.-Id. Opusc., 1, s. v.) Isis the goddess of generation and production. United to received, as is well known, the names of "Lady," one another, Osiris and Isis typify the universal Being, Mistress," "Mother," Nurse," &c., common to the soul of nature, the Pantheus of the Orphic verses. many other Egyptian deities. Her favourite name, (Symbolik, par Guigniaut, vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 806.)-In however, is "Myrionyma," or "She that has ten thouaccordance with this general view of the subject are sand names." Creuzer finds an analogy between the the remarks of Knight: "Isis was the same with the Egyptian Osiris and Isis, and the Hindu Isa and Isani goddess of generation, except that by the later Egyp- or Isi; and this analogy displays itself not only in tians the personification was still more generalized, so their respective attributes and offices, but also in the as to comprehend universal nature; whence Apuleius meaning of their names; they are the "Lord" and invokes her by the names of Eleusinian Ceres, Celestial " Lady," two titles of almost all great popular diviniVenus, and Proserpina; and she answers him by a ties among the pagan nations both of ancient and modgeneral explanation of these titles. 'I arn,' says she, ern times. The different forms of the Egyptian year, Nature, the parent of things, the sovereign of the ele- and the successive efforts made to correct the calen ments, the primary progeny of time, the most exalted dar, could not fail to produce considerable variations of the deities, the first of the heavenly gods and god- in the legend of Isis and Osiris, which had itself been desses, the queen of the shades, the uniform counte- founded originally on a normal period. In this way, nance; who dispose with my rod the numerous lights perhaps, we may explain the double death of Osiris, of heaven, the salubrious breezes of the sea, and the and regard it as typifying those variations that were mournful silence of the dead; whose single deity the the necessary result of the vague state of the year. whole world venerates in many forms, with various The principal festivals of Egypt, moreover, established, rites and many names. The Egyptians, skilled in an- like those of most other nations, after the natural cient lore, worship me with proper ceremonies, and epochs of the year, found at once in the popular mycall me by my true name, Queen Isis.'" (Apul., Met., thology their commentary and their sanction. The 11, p. 257.) This universal character of the goddess most solemn one of these, called the festival (the lamappears, however, to have been subsequent to the entations) of Isis, or the disappearance (death) of Macedonian conquest, when a new modification of the Osiris, commenced on the 17th of the month Athyr, ancient systems of religion and philosophy took place or the 13th of November, according to Plutarch: it at Alexandrea, and spread itself gradually over the was a festival of mourning and tears. (Plut., de Is. world. The statues of this Isis are of a composition et Os., c. 39, 69, p. 501, 549, ed. Wyttenb.-Crewand form quite different from those of the ancient zer, Comment. Herod., p. 120, seqq.) Towards the Egyptian goddess; and all that we have seen are of winter solstice was celebrated the finding of Osiris; Greek or Roman sculpture. The original Egyptian and on the seventh of Tybi, or the second of January, figure of Isis is merely the animal symbol of the cow the arrival of Isis from Phoenicia. A few days after, humanized, with the addition of the serpent disc, or the festival of Osiris found (a second time) united the some other accessory emblem: but the Greek and cries of gladness on the part of all Egypt to the pure Roman figures of her are infinitely varied, to sig-joy experienced by Isis herself. The festival of grainnify by various symbols the various attributes of universal nature. In this character she is confounded with the personifications of Fortune and Victory, which are, in reality, no other than those of Providence, and, therefore, occasionally decked with all the

sowing and that of the burial of Osiris; the festival of his resurrection, at the period when the young blade of grain began to show itself out of the ground; the pregnancy of Isis, the birth of Harpocrates, to whom were offered the first fruits of the approaching

harvest; the festival of the Pamylia; all these fell in a great period embracing the one half of the year, from the autumnal equinox to that of the spring, at the commencement of which latter season was celebrated the feast of the purification of Isis. A little before this the Egyptians solemnized, at the new moon of Phamenoth (March), the entrance of Osiris into the Moon, which planet he was believed to fecundate, that it might, in its turn, fecundate the earth. (Plut., Ib.) Finally, on the 30th of Epiphi (24th of July), the festival of the birth of Horus took place (of Horus the representative of Osiris, the conqueror of Typhon), in the second great period, extending from the month Pharmuthi (27th of March) to Thoth (29th of August), when the year recommenced. (Creuzer, Symbolik, note 3, Guigniaut, vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 801.)

ISMARUS (Ismara, plur.), a mountain of Thrace near the mouth of the Hebrus, covered with vineyards. This part of Thrace was famous for its wines. Ulysses, in the Odyssey, is made to speak in commendation of some wine given him by Maron, the priest of Apollo. Ismarus was situated in the territory of the Cicones, whose capital was also called by the same name. Homer (Od., 1, 40) makes Ulysses to have taken and plundered this city; but the natives coming down from the interior in great force, he was driven off with severe loss both of men and ships. Ismarus is only known to later writers as a mountain celebrated for its wine, which indeed Homer himself alludes to in another passage. (Od., 1, 197.-Virg., Georg., 2, 37.)

teachers were Gorgias, Prodicus and Tisias. On account of his weak voice and natural timidity, he was reluctant to speak in public; but he applied himself with the greatest ardour to instruction in the art of eloquence and preparing orations for others. His success as a rhetorical instructer was most brilliant. He taught at both Chios and Athens, and some of the greatest orators of Greece, such as Isæus, Lycurgus, Hyperides, and, according to some accounts, Demosthenes, formed themselves in his school. Hence Cicero compares this school of his to the wooden horse at Troy: since the latter contained the most famous chieftains of the Greeks, the former the leaders in eloquence. (De Orat., 2, 22.) Although he never filled any public station, yet he rendered himself useful to his country by the discourses which he published on various topics of a political character. He is said to have charged one thousand drachmæ (nearly 180 dollars) for a complete course of oratorical instruction, and to have said to some one who found fault with the largeness of the amount, that he would willingly give ten thousand drachmæ to any one who should impart to him the self-confidence and the command of voice requisite in a public orator. The orations of Isocrates were either sent to the persons to whom they were addressed, for their private perusal, or they were intrusted to others to deliver in public. He is said to have delivered only one himself. Isocrates treated of great moral and political questions, and his views are distinguished by a regard for virtue, and an aversion to all meanness and injustice. In his childhood Isocrates was the companion of Plato, and they remained friends during their whole lives. He had a great veneration for Socrates. After the death of that distinguished philosopher, which filled his scholars with fear and horror, he alone had the courage to appear in mourning. He gave another proof of his courage by publicly defending Theramenes, who had been proscribed by the thirty tyrants. Isocrates was particularly distinguished for a polished style and an harISMENIAS, I. a celebrated musician of Thebes. monious construction of his sentences. In Cicero's When he was taken prisoner by the Scythians, Athe-opinion, it was he who first gave to prose writing its as, the king of the country, observed, that he liked the due rhythm. The art of Isocrates is always apparent, neighing of his horse better than all the music of Is- a circumstance which, of itself, diminishes in some menias. (Plut. in Apophth.)—II. A Theban gener-degree the effect of his writings, and is almost inconal, sent to Persia on an embassy by his coun ymen.sistent with vigour and force. The address to DeAs none were admitted into the king's presence with-monicus, for example, is an almost uninterrupted seout prostrating themselves at his feet, Ismenias had ries of antitheses. Though he falls far below the recourse to artifice to avoid performing an act which great orator of Athens, Isocrates is still a perfect maswould render him degraded in the eyes of his country-ter in the style which he has adopted, and has well men, and yet, at the same time, not to offend against the customs of Persia. When he was introduced he dropped his ring, and the motion he made to recover it from the ground being mistaken for the required homage, Ismenias had a satisfactory audience of the monarch. (Elian, V. H., 1, 21.)

ISMENE, I. a daughter of Edipus and Jocasta, who, when her sister Antigone had been condemned to be buried alive by Creon for giving burial to her brother Polynices, against the tyrant's positive orders, declared herself as guilty as her sister, and insisted upon being punished along with her. (Soph., Antig.-Apollod., 3, 5.)-II. A daughter of the river Asopus, who married the hundred-eyed Argus, by whom she had Iasus. (Apollod., 2, 1.)

merited the high encomiums of Dionysius of Halicarnassus for the noble spirit and the rectitude of purpose which pervade all his writings. The composition, revision, and repeated polishing of his speeches occupied so much time that he published little. His celebrated "Panegyrical Oration," for example, is said to have occupied him ten whole years.-The politics of Isocrates were conciliatory. He was a friend of peace: he repeatedly exhorted the Greeks to concord among themselves, and to turn their arms against their common enemies, the Persians. He addressed Philip of Macedon in a similar strain, after his peace with Ath

ISMENUS, I. a son of Apollo and Melia, one of the Nereides, who gave his name to a river of Boeotia, near Thebes.-II. A river of Baotia, in the immediate vicinity of Thebes, at the foot of a hill. It was sacred to Apollo, hence called Ismenius, who had a temple here. (Pind., Pyth., 11, 6.-Soph., Ed. Tyr., 19.) The Ismenus is more frequently alluded to in conjunc-ens (B.C. 346), exhorting him to reconcile the states tion with the celebrated fountain of Dirce. (Eurip., of Greece, and to unite their forces against Persia. Bacch., 5.-Id., Phan., 830.-Herc., Fur., 572.-1b., He kept up a correspondence with Philip, and two of 781.—Pind., Isthm., 6, 108.) Dodwell observes, that his epistles to that prince are still extant, as well as the Ismenus has less pretensions to the title of a river one which he wrote to the then youthful Alexander, than the Athenian Ilissus, for it has no water except congratulating him on his proficiency in his studies. after heavy rains, when it becomes a torrent, and rush- Though no violent partisan, he proved, however, a es into the Lake of Hylika, about four miles west of warm-hearted patriot; for, on receiving the news of Thebes. (Tour, vol. 2, p. 268.) Sir. W. Gell states the battle of Charonea, he refused to take food for that it is usually dry, from its being made to furnish several days, and thus closed his long and honourable water to several fountains. (Cramer's Anc. Greece, career at the age of ninety-eight, B.Č. 338.-In Pluvol. 2, p. 229, seqq.) tarch's time sixty orations went under his name, not ISOCRATES, a distinguished orator, or, rather, orator-half of which were, however, deemed genuine. Twenical writer, born at Athens, B.C. 436. His principal ty-one now remain. Of these, the most remarkable

is the discourse entitled Пlavnyupikós, Panegyricus, | ject, to mortify the sophist and make his work a failor "Panegyrical Oration,” i. e., a discourse pronounced ure.-4. Ilava@nvaïkós, Panathenaicus. An éloge on before the assembled people. The Panegyric of Isoc- the Athenians; one of the best pieces of Isocrates, rates was delivered at the Olympic games, and was but which has reached us in a defective state-We written in the time of the Lacedæmonian ascendancy. have likewise from the pen of Isocrates eight discourHe exhorts the Lacedæmonians and Athenians to vie ses of a legal nature, or 2óyoi dikávikoi.—1. Пλarawith each other in a noble emulation, and to unite ikós, Complaint of the inhabitants of Platea against their forces in an expedition against Asia; and he de- the Thebans.-2. Пepì τns ȧvridóσews, " Of the exscants eloquently on the merits and glories of the changing of property with another." According to Athenian commonwealth, on the services it had ren- the Athenian laws, the three hundred richest citizens dered to Greece, and on its high intellectual cultiva- were obliged to equip triremes, furnish the commontion; while he defends it from the charges, urged by wealth with necessary supplies of money, &c. If any its enemies, of tyranny by sea, and of oppression to- person appointed to undergo one of these duties could wards its colonies. Among the other twenty dis- find another citizen of better substance than himself courses of Isocrates, there are three of the parenetic who was not on the list, then the informer was excused or moral kind: 1. Пpòç AnμóvIKOV, "Discourse ad- and the other put in his place. If the person named, dressed to Demonicus," the son of Hipponicus, who, however, denied that he was the richer of the two, with his brother Callias, belonged to the highest class then they exchanged estates. Isocrates, having acof Athenian citizens. It consists of moral precepts quired great riches, had twice to undergo this species for the conduct of life and the regulation of the de- of prosecution. The first time he was defended by portment of the young. Many critics have thought | his adopted son Alphareus, and gained his cause; the that this piece, abounding with excellent morality, and second time he was attacked by a certain Lysimachus, resembling an epistle rather than a discourse, is not was unsuccessful in his defence, and compelled to the work of the Athenian Isocrates, but of one of two equip a trireme. The present discourse was delivered other orators of the same name, of whom mention is by Isocrates on this latter occasion. It has reached made by the ancient writers, namely, Isocrates of Apol- us in an imperfect state, but has been completed in lonia, or Heraclea in Pontus, who was a disciple of our own days by the discoveries of a modern scholar, the Athenian philosopher; and Isocrates the friend of Moustoxydes.-3. IIɛpì Tov Čeúyovç. A pleading reDionysius of Halicarnassus. One thing is certain, specting a team of horses, pronounced for the son of that Harpocration cites a discourse of the Apollonian Alcibiades.-4. Tpañešitikós, a pleading against the Isocrates, under the title of Iapaiveσis пρòs Anpóv- banker Pasion, pronounced by the son of Sopaus, who LKOV, and it is not probable that the master and his had confided a sum of money to his care. Pasion had disciple would have written exhortations addressed to denied the deposite.-5. Iapaypapixòs πрòç Kaλλíμthe same individual. As regards the third Isocrates axov. An "actio translativa" against Callimachus.just mentioned, it is very doubtful whether he ever 6. Alyinтikós, a pleading pronounced at Ægina in a existed.-2. IIpòs NikóκλEα, Discourse addressed to matter of succession.-7. Karà Tov Aoxirov, a pleadNicocles II., son of Evagoras, and prince of Salamis ing against Lochites for personal violence against a cerin Cyprus, on the art of reigning.-3. Nikokλñs, Nic-tain individual whose name is not given. We have ocles, a discourse composed for this prince, to be pro- only the second part of this discourse.-8. 'Aμáprupos, nounced by him, and treating of the duties of subjects or Пpòs Evoúvоνv úπèр Niкiov, "Pleading for Nicias towards their sovereigns. Nicocles is said to have against Euthynus." The latter was a faithless depresented Isocrates, in return, with twenty talents. positary, who reckoned on the impossibility of proving This piece is sometimes cited under the name of the a certain deposite through want of witnesses to the Cyprian Discourse, Kúпρios hóуos. Five other dis- transaction.We have finally a discourse of Isocrates courses of Isocrates are of the deliberative kind. 1. against the Sophists (xarà Tv σopioTwv), which The Panegyric, of which we have already spoken.—must be placed in a class by itself. There was also a 2. díλnnos, or ПIpòç Þíλiππov, "Discourse address-work on Rhetoric composed by him, more commonly ed to Philip of Macedon," to induce him to act as me- called a Téxvn, “Theory." Cicero states that he was diator between the Greek cities, and to make war unable to procure this work (De Invent., 2, 2): it is against Persia.-3. 'Apxídauos, Archidamus. Under cited, however, by Quintilian (Inst. Or., 3, 1, et 14.) the name of this prince, who afterward ascended the -The best edition of the Greek text is that of Bekthrone of Sparta, the orator endeavours to persuade ker, forming part of his Oratores Attici. (Berol., the Lacedæmonians, after the battle of Mantinea, not 1822-1823, 8vo.-Orat. Att., vol. 2.) The two most to relinquish Messenia.-4. 'ApɛιOñaуITIKós, Areopa- useful editions are, that of Lange, Hal., 1803, 8vo, giticus. One of the best discourses of Isocrates. In and that of Coray, Paris, 1807, 8vo, forming the secit he counsels the Athenians to re-establish the con- ond volume of the B162100йên 'Eλλŋviêý. This last stitution of Solon, as modified by Clisthenes.-5. Iepì is based upon a MS. brought from Italy to France, eipývns, ǹ ovμμaxıкós, “ Of Peace," or, " Respecting which is the earliest one extant of our author. Cothe Allies." In this discourse, pronounced after the ray's edition is accompanied with very learned notes, commencement of the social war, Isocrates advises and may, upon the whole, be regarded as the edithe Athenians to make peace with the inhabitants of tio optima. The editions of Battie, Cantab., 1729, Chios, Rhodes, and Byzantium. We have also four 2 vols. 8vo, and of Auger, Paris, 1782, vols. 8vo, discourses by this writer that fall under the head of are not remarkable, especially the latter, for a very acéloges (tykwμασTɩKoí): viz., 1. Evayópaç, Evagoras. curate text. Auger's work abounds with typographi A funeral oration on Evagoras, king of Cyprus, and cal errors, and he is also charged with a careless colfather of Nicocles, who had been assassinated, Ol.lating of MSS. The best edition of the Panegyricus 101, 3. —2. ‘Eλévns ¿ykúμiov, Eloge on Helen, a is that of Morus and Spohn, with the notes and addipiece full of pleasing digressions.-3. Bovoipis, Bu- tions of Baiter, Lips., 1831, 8vo. In the preface of siris. The Grecian mythology speaks of this son of this edition (p. xxxi), there are some very just remarks Neptune and Lysianassa, who reigned in Egypt, and on the Greek text of Bekker.-We have already alintroduced into that country human sacrifices. Her-luded to the completing of the oration Пlepì ȧvridóσews, cules delivered the earth from this monster. The by Moustoxydes. This scholar found a perfect MS. of sophist Polycrates had written on Busiris; Isocrates, the discourse in question in the Ambrosian Library at who hated him because he had published an accusa- Milan, and published an edition of the entire piece in tion of Socrates, wished, in treating of the same sub-1812 at Milan. It is, however, very inaccurately

printed. A more correct edition was published by Orellius, in 1814, 8vo, with a double commentary, critical and philological, in German; and also a smaller edition, containing merely the Greek text with various readings. These two editions are more accurate than that of Milan. (Schöll, Hist. Lit. Gr., vol. 2, p. 208, seqq.-Hoffmann, Lex. Bibliograph., vol. 2, p. 620.)

ISTER, I. a native of Cyrene, who flourished under Ptolemy III. of Egypt. Suidas makes him to have been a disciple of Callimachus. Besides his 'Αττικά, in sixteen books, he left a number of other works, on Egypt, Argolis, Elis, &c. A few fragments only remain, which were collected and published with those of Demon, another historian, by Siebelis and Lenz, Lips., 1812, 8vo.-II. The name of the eastern part of the Danube, after its junction with the Savus or Saave. The term is evidently of Teutonic or German origin (Osten, “east”).

ISSA, one of the smallest of the Dalmatian islands, but the best known in history. It is mentioned by Scylax as a Greek colony (p. 8), which, according to Scymnus of Chios, was sent from Syracuse (v. 412). ISTHMIA, sacred games among the Greeks, which Issa is often alluded to by Polybius in his account of received their name from the Isthmus of Corinth, where the Illyrian war. It was attacked by Teuta; but the they were observed. They were instituted in honour siege was raised on the appearance of the Roman fleet, of Melicertes, who was changed into a sea-deity when and the inhabitants immediately placed themselves his mother Ino had thrown herself into the sea with under the protection of that power. (Appian, Illyr., him in her arms. After they had been celebrated for 7.—Polyb., 2, 11.) It became afterward a constant some time with great regularity, an interruption took station for the Roman galleys in their wars with the place, at the expiration of which they were re-estabkings of Macedon. (Liv., 43, 9.) In Cæsar's time lished by Theseus in honour of Neptune. These games the town appears to have been very flourishing, for it were celebrated every five years. (Alex. ab Alex., is styled "nobilissimum earum regionum oppidum" Gen. D., 5, 8.) When Corinth was destroyed by (B. Alex., 47), and Pliny informs us that the inhabi- Mummius, the Roman general, they were still observed tants were Roman citizens. (Plin., 3, 21.) Athe-with the usual solemnity, and the Sicyonians were innæus states that the wine of this island was much es- trusted with the superintendence, which had been beteemed (1, 22). Its present name is Lissa. (Cra-fore one of the privileges of the ruined Corinthians. mer's Anc. Greece, vol. 1, p. 44.)

Combats of every kind were exhibited, and the victors were rewarded with garlands of pine leaves. Some time after the custom was changed, and the victor received a crown of dry and withered parsley. At a subsequent period, however, the pine again was adopted. (Consult, for the reason of these changes, the remarks of Plutarch, Sympos., 5, 3.-Op., ed. Reiske, vol. 8, p. 687, seqq.)

ISSEDŎNES, the principal nation in Serica, whose metropolis was Sera, now Kant-schu, in the Chinese province of Shen-Si, without the great wall. This city has been erroneously confounded with Pekin, the capital of China, which is 300 leagues distant. They had also two towns, both called Issedon, but distinguished by the epithets of Serica and Scythica. (Ptol. -Bischoff und Müller, Wörterb. der Geogr., p. 649.) ISTHMUS, a small neck of land which joins a country Issus, a town of Cilicia Campestris, at the foot of to another, and prevents the sea from making them the main chain of Amanus, and nearly at the centre separate, such as that of Corinth, called often the Isthof the head of the gulf to which it gave its name (Issi-mus by way of eminence, which joins Peloponnesus cus Sinus). Xenophon describes Issus ("Ioool, in the to Greece. (Vid. Corinthi Isthmus.) plural) as a considerable town in his time. Cyrus ISTRIA OF HISTRIA, a peninsula lying to the west remained here three days, and was joined by his fleet of Liburnia, and bounded on the south and west by from the Peloponnesus. These ships anchored close the Adriatic. It was anciently a part of Illyricum. to the shore, where Cyrus had his quarters. (Anab., Its circuit and shape are accurately described and de1, 4.-Compare Arrian, Exp. Alex., 2, 7.-Diod. fined by Strabo (314) and Pliny (3, 19). Little is Sic., 17, 32.) Issus was famous for the victory gained known respecting the origin of the people: but an old here by Alexander over Darius. The error on the geographer describes them as a nation of Thracian part of the Persian monarch was in selecting so con- race (Scymn. Ch., Perieg., 390), and this opinion tracted a spot for a pitched battle. The breadth of seems at least to have probability in its favour. There the plain of Issus, between the sea and the mountains, is little to interest in the account of the wars waged appears from Callisthenes, quoted by Polybius, not to by the Romans against this insignificant people; it is exceed fourteen stadia, less than two miles, a space to be found in Livy (41, 1, seqq.): they were comvery inadequate for the manœuvres of so large an ar-pletely subjugated A.U.C. 575. Augustus included my as that of Darius. The ground was, besides, bro- Istria in Cisalpine Gaul, or rather Italy, removing the ken, and intersected by many ravines and torrents limit of the latter country from the river Formio (Riwhich descended from the mountains. The principal sano) to the little river Arsia. (Plin., 3, 18.) The one of these, and which is frequently mentioned in the Greeks, in their fanciful mythology, derived the name narrative of this momentous battle, is the Pinarus. of Istria from that of the Ister or Danube; they conThe two armies were at first drawn up on opposite veyed the Argonauts from the Euxine into the Ister, banks of this stream; Darius on the side of Issus, Al- and then, by an unheard-of communication between exander towards Syria. A clear notion of the whole this river and the Adriatic, launched their heroes into affair may be obtained from the narratives of Arrian, the waters of the latter. (Scylax, Peripl., p. 6.-StraCurtius, and Plutarch, and from the critical remarks bo, 46.-Aristot., Hist. Anim., 8, 13.) Not satisfied, of Polybius on the statement of Callisthenes. The however, with these wonders, they affirmed that a band town of Issus, in Strabo's time, was only a small place of Colchians, sent in pursuit of Jason and Medea, folwith a port. (Strab., 676.) Stephanus says it was lowed the same course, and, wearied by a fruitless called Nicopolis, in consequence of the victory gained search, rested in Istria, and finally settled on its shores. by Alexander (s. v. "Iooos). Strabo, however, speaks (Pomp. Mel., 2, 3.) This strange error no longer of Nicopolis as a distinct place from Issus. Cicero prevailed in the time of Strabo, when Istria had bereports that, during his expedition against the mount-come known to the Romans, and formed part of their aineers of Amanus, he occupied Issus for some days. vast empire. (Cramer's Ancient Italy, vol. 1, p. 134, (Ep. ad Att., 5, 20.) Issus was also remarkable, at a seqq.) later day, for the defeat of Niger by Severus. The modern Aiasse appears to correspond to the site of the ancient town. (Cramer's Asia Minor, vol. 2, p. 359, segg. Compare Rennell, Geography of Western Asia, vol. 2, p. 94.)

ISTROPOLIS, a city of Thrace, situate on the coast of the Euxine, below the mouth of the Ister, where a lagune or salt lake, called Halmyris, formed by an arm of the Danube, has its issue into the sea. It appears to be succeeded at the present day by a place called

Kara-Kermon, or "the black fortress." Istropolis is | Aristotle, cited by Dionysius of Halicarnassas, terms

said to have been founded by a Milesian colony. (Plin., 4, 11.)

Latium a part of this same Opica. As regards the origin of the name Italia, the truth appears to be this: ITABYRIUS, a mountain of Galilæa Inferior, near the the appellation was first given by the early Greeks to southern limits of the tribe of Zebulon, and southeast what is now denominated Calabria ulterior, or to that from Carmel. According to Josephus (Bell. Jud., 4, 6), southern extremity of the boot which is confined beit was 30 stadia high, and had on its summit a plain tween the Sinus Terinæus (Gulf of St. Euphemia) and of 26 stadia in extent. Its modern name is Thabor. the Sinus Scyllacius (Gulf of Squillace). Such, at This mountain is supposed by some to have been the least, is the account of Aristotle (Polit., 7, 10) and scene of our Saviour's transfiguration. Jerome, Cy- Strabo (254). This was not done because the name rill, and other writers, are in favour of the position, was in strictness confined to that section of the counbut it is opposed by Reland (Palæstin., p. 247). The try, but because the Greeks knew at that early period name Thabor or Tabor, which was also the ancient very little, comparatively speaking, of the interior, and one among the natives, appears to be derived from the were as yet ignorant of the fact, that most of the nuHebrew tabbor, "a height" or "summit." (Reland, merous nations which peopled the Italian peninsula 1. c.) The Greek writers call it Oab@p and 'Arabú- were the descendants of one common race, the Itali, plov (or 'Irabúpiov) opoç. (Compare the Jupiter Ata- who originally were spread over the whole land, even byrius of Rhodes and Agrigentum, and the remarks to the foot of the Alps. The nations in the south of of Ritter, Vorhalle, p. 339.) On the summit of this Italy, with whom the Greeks first became acquainted, mountain was situate a fortified town called Atabyrion. were found by them to be descended from the Itali, (Polyb., 5, 70.-Vid. Atabyrion.) Mount Thabor is or, rather, they found this name in general use among situate two leagues southeast of Nazareth, rising out them: hence they called their section of the country of the great plain of Esdraclon, at its eastern side. Its by the name of Italia. As their knowledge of the infigure is that of a truncated cone, and its elevation, terior became more enlarged, other branches of the according to Buckingham, about 1000 feet; but, from same great race were successively discovered, and the circumstance mentioned by Burckhardt, of thick the name Italia thus gradually progressed in its appliclouds resting on it in the morning in summer, and his cation until it reached the southern limits of Cisalpine being an hour in ascending it, it may perhaps be con- Gaul. To this latter country the name of Gallia Cissidered as higher than Buckingham supposed, though, alpina was originally given, because it was peopled from the same time occupied in the ascent, not more principally by Gauls, who had settled in these parts, than 400 or 500 feet, or from 1400 to 1500 in all. It and dislodged the ancient inhabitants. In confirmation is represented as entirely calcareous. Dr. Richardson of what has just been advanced, we find that, in the describes it as a dark-looking, insulated conical mount-time of Antiochus, a son of Xenophanes, who lived ain, rising like a tower to a considerable height above about the 320th year of Rome, and a little anterior to those around it. On the summit is a plain about a Thucydides, the appellation Italia was given to a part mile in circumference, which shows the remains of of Italy which lay south of a line drawn from the small the ancient fortress mentioned above. The view river Laus to Metapontum. (Dion. Hal., 1, p. 59.) from this spot is said to be one of the finest in the Towards the end of the fifth century of Rome, it descountry. ignated all the countries south of the Tiber and Æsis. At length, in the pages of Polybius, who wrote about the 600th year of Rome, we find the name in question given to all Italy up to the foot of the Alps. The including of Cisalpine Gaul under this appellation was an act of policy on the part of the second triumvirate, who were afraid lest, if it remained a province, some future proconsul might imitate Cæsar, and overthrow with his legions the authority of the republic. At a still later period, Augustus divided Italy into eleven regions, and extended its limits on the northeast as far as Pola, thus comprehending Istria. It is somewhat remarkable, that the name Italia, after having gradually extended to the Alps, should at a subsequent epoch be limited in its application to the northern parts alone. When the Emperor Maximian, towards the close of the third century of the Christian era, transferred his residence to Milan, the usage prevailed in the West of giving the name of Italy exclusively to the five prov inces of Emilia, Liguria, Flaminia, Venetia, and Istria. It was in this sense that the kings of the Lombards were styled monarchs of Italy.-As regards the other names sometimes applied to Italy, it may be observed, that they are, in strictness, names only of particular parts, extended by poetic usage to the whole country. Thus Enotria properly applies to a part of the southeastern coast, and was given by the Greeks to this portion of the country, from the numerous vines which grew there, the name importing "wine-land." Thus, too, Saturnia in fact belongs to one of the bills of Rome, &c.-Italy may be divided into three parts, the northern, or Gallia Cisalpina; the middle, or Italia Propria; and the southern, or Magna Græcia. Its principal states were Gallia Cisalpina, Etruria, Umbria, Picenum, Latium, Campania, Samnium and Hirpini, Apulia, Calabria, Lucania, and Brutiorum Ager. Originally the whole of Italy appears to have been peopled by one common race, the Itali, who were

ITALIA, a celebrated country of Europe, bounded on the north by the Alps, on the south by the Ionian Sea, on the northeast by the Adriatic or Mare Superum, and on the southwest by the Mare Tyrrhenum or Inferum. It was called Hesperia by the Greeks, from its western situation in relation to Greece (Virg., En., 1, 530), and received also from the Latin poets the appellation of Ausonia (Virg., Æn., 7, 54), Saturnia (Virg., Georg., 2, 173), and Enotria. The name Italia some writers deduce from Italus, a chief of the Enotri or Siculi (Antioch. Syrac., ap. Dion. Hal., 1, 2.-Thucyd., 6, 2). Others sought the origin of the term in the Greek word iraλós, or the Latin vitulus, which corresponds to it (Varro, R. R., 2, 5. -Dion. Hal., 1, 35); and others again make the name to have belonged originally to a small canton in Calabria, and to have become gradually common to the whole country. The ancients differed from us in their application of names to countries. They regarded the name as belonging to the people, not to the land itself; and in this they were more correct than we are, who call nations after the countries they inhabit. Asia Minor, for example, was an appellation unknown to the earlier classic writers, and only began to come into use after the country had fallen into the hands of the Romans. Previous to this, the different nations which peopled that peninsula had their respective names, and were known by these. In the same way, a general name for what we now term Italy was not originally thought of. When the Greeks became first acquainted with this country, they observed it to be peopled with several distinct nations, as they thought; and hence we find it divided by them about the time of Aristotle into six countries or regions, Ausonia or Opica, Tyrrhenia, Iapygia, Ombria, Liguria, and Henetia. Thucydides, for instance, in speaking of Cume, says that it is situate in Opica; and